How To: Convert ASP.NET Web API to Azure API app

In my last post, I introduced and discussed about the new azure API apps. It’s really nothing more than your asp.net web API with a new way and form to expose the metadata so to speak. Its actually a web app with other additional features for hosting. Azure API is hosted within a web app.

In the pipeline to Azure API app, there a gateway which performs other stuff before reaching the Azure API app. The gateway is just another web app able to perform extra functionality like authetication with providers.

Every resource group with that contains an API app also includes a gateway. The azure API app expose there metadate via a new representation swagger. Its a new powerful representation of RESTful API.

In this post we are looking at how to convert an already existing ASP.NET web api to azure api app. I will be using visual studio 2013.

Open visual studio 2013, and create a new ASP.NET Web api.

To keep things simple, I am not using any authentication in this post. We will make a few changes to ValuesController, make sure it look like show below

In our code we are using “autopoco” package to generate object to test with. So far this is just the normal ASP.NET web api. You can run the application and hit “http://localhost:26467/api/Student&#8221; and you will see the response of 50 students.

So how do we convert it to azure API app? Good question, and the essence of this post. To do that you simply add a new package called “swashbuckle” as shown below. Go package manager and search for “swashbuckle”

When this is installed a new file should be added in your App_Start, “SwaggerConfig.cs”. Ensure your solution looks like below

That’s the file that makes your expectations come true. Nothing much, nothing less. So run you application and hit the following url, “http://localhost:26467/swagger&#8221; which takes to a screen like below:

If your screen looks like above then everything so far looks good. So this generates a documentation of all the api operations in the project, you need to know it uses the same pipeline as how ASP.NET WEB api generate help pages. Click “Try it out!” and you will see a json response from the “GET” operation.

But where is the metadata? Navigate to “http://localhost:26467/swagger/docs/v1&#8221;, and this will generate a metadata file which is json in nature. We will talk on how to use this metadata file to generate a client sdk and other uses.

So from the image above.

1. Paths holds a collection of the API controllers in the projects

2. Indicate a API controller in our project “/api/Student”

3. Within every API controller, all available operations tagged with the http verb are listed.

4. The responses the operation supports.

That’s it!! 🙂 We have managed to convert/enable an ASP.NET Web api to a azure api app.